Re: The elusive Columbiad

In a message dated 7/22/99 8:19:48 AM EST, edens@mindspring.com writes:

<< 
 A Columbiad was, in the American artillery vernacular of the 1840-60's,
a
 smoothbore cannon, mostly of 8 and 10 inch caliber capable of firing
 explosive shell as well as solid shot.  In the British service such
weapons
 were generally refered to as Paixhan guns after the French designer who
 pioneered the shell firing gun.  By the time of the Civil War things
get
 really confusing with Columbiads, Rodmans, and Dahlgrens (the last two
 similar to Columbiads but of improved "coke bottle" shape), Parrot
rifles,
 Brooke Rifles, Armstrongs and Whitworths, Napoleons and on and on...
  >>

Most of the 8 - 15 inch artilery (smooth bore in Union use in the civil
war 
period) were Dahlgrens. A smoothbore wit reinforced breech to resist
bursting 
(which is a hoot, since at one of the gun's inaugral test shootings a
breech 
explosion killed the then Secretary of War - but that is a digression).
You 
will actually find Columbiad guns emplaced on smaller naval vessels
prior to 
the War of 1812. Gun names and popular nomenclature always overlapped -
case 
in point: the Civil War "Napoleon" a 12 pdr smooth bore field piece. It
was a 
design built long after it's name sake was laid to rest, but since it
was a 
smoothbore in the dawn of rifled artillery it got nicknamed and God
knows the 
nicknames are much more important than the real names (and also more 
historically colorful)